The present invention relates to ready-to-serve heat treated protein containing beverages such as cafe au lait, and processes for their preparation.
It has hitherto not been possible to produce an acceptable ready-to-serve cafe au lait (coffee with milk) product involving high temperature processing followed by aseptic packaging owing to the development of poor physical stability defects including creaming, sedimentation and gelatin. In addition, the coffee flavour intensity and quality tend to deteriorate significantly upon storage. These stability problems occur due to the different chemical compositions of coffee and milk which render them detrimental to each other in maintaining consistent physical and flavour shelf stability In cafe au lait these detrimental relationships are further complicated by additives such as buffering agents, hydrocolloid stabilisers and/or emulsifiers.